Setup of 120G and Sump

[vertex]

Hey everyone, I'm finally getting around to working on my 120G setup and have started building the sump/refug today. I've got a 30G tank for this that will need one side (half) for the pump/skimmer and the other half for the inlet and refugium.

Here is a pic of my plan. The intake on left I'll build a corner chamber similar to the tube shown to help bubble trap and fill with coral rubble. Then the majority of the left side will be a refugium overflowing to the right side. The right pumps back to two spots (the tank obviously and Teed back into the refugium with a ball value so I can reduce the flow up to the tank to keep things quieter. The skimmer is completely within the right had side (I may need to bubble trap that as well).

But I have a few questions.

1. Is it OK to have all the flow through the refugium or should it be fed just off the skimmer output or something so the flow is less and all other flow in the right hand side including the inlet from tank.

2. Do you only need the two baffles like I showed for decent bubble trap or would three be needed?

3. Should the refugium water level be the full height almost and only having room for (power outage) overflow on the right side? Eventually, I may try to add auto top off then also which will be level switched from the right side.

Thanks for any ideas.

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/5509/sump0ez.jpg

[mr_alberta]

1. Is it OK to have all the flow through the refugium or should it be fed just off the skimmer output or something so the flow is less and all other flow in the right hand side including the inlet from tank.

2. Do you only need the two baffles like I showed for decent bubble trap or would three be needed?

3. Should the refugium water level be the full height almost and only having room for (power outage) overflow on the right side? Eventually, I may try to add auto top off then also which will be level switched from the right side.

Thanks for any ideas.

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/5509/sump0ez.jpg

1) It depends on what you want to grow in your refugium. Some Macro algeas like Cheato like higher flow and will do better when allowed to "tumble" freely. Other macros may not appreciate that much flow. Also, you'll most likely not be able to keep sand in your fuge and the draining water with blast it all out and into your pumps :eek

2) The longer the water takes to get from the entrance to the exit, the better.

3) Always leave enough room in your sump to hold all of the overflow water, water in your return lines and then some.

[vertex]

OK Thanks, I will mostly be keeping lower flow macro since I don't want a lot of noise from water so I'll keep it fairly low flow through the sump/fuge. So, I do plan to have sand in there also and will need the first baffle right to the bottom so it can't get filled with sand, so I'll propably add a third baffle.

To keep the sand from stiring up, I'll build a new corner box for the drain water to pour into and it will then overflow into the fuge area so the sand will not be stirred up.

Thanks for the help!